Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Behavioural development in male mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx): Puberty to adulthood.

Setchell, J.M.

Authors



Abstract

Adolescence, the period between puberty and the attainment of full adult size and appearance, is a distinct and important developmental period in primates. Although adolescence can account for a significant proportion of a male's reproductive lifespan in highly sexually dimorphic species, few studies have concentrated on adolescent development. In male mandrills, puberty begins before 4 yr, but males continue to grow and develop for a further 6 yr, attaining adult size and appearance at 10 yr. Concurrently, males become peripheral to the social group of females and their offspring. This study aimed to describe behavioural development in adolescent male mandrills, and to examine the process of peripheralisation and reintegration into the social group. I made 20 months of daily behavioural observations on 19 post-pubertal males living in two semifree-ranging groups of mandrills at the Centre International de Recherches Médicales in Franceville, Gabon. As age and morphological development increased, and males peripheralised, social behaviours (grooming and play) decreased, involvement in aggression increased, and sexual behaviour increased per time that males spent with the social group. Behavioural changes were gradual and male peripheralisation was voluntary; males were not actively evicted by the dominant male or other group members. At the end of adolescence one individual in each group took-over as alpha male and re-entered the social group while other males remained peripheral or solitary, and I discuss the differences between successful males and their peers. Finally, I examine the possible proximate and ultimate causes underlying peripheralisation in male mandrills, concluding that peripheralisation represents a tactic to avoid feeding and male-male competition, while undergoing dramatic development in body size and morphology, in order to compete effectively for access to mates as an adult.

Citation

Setchell, J. (2003). Behavioural development in male mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx): Puberty to adulthood. Behaviour, 140, 1053-1089. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853903322589641

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2003
Journal Behaviour
Print ISSN 0005-7959
Electronic ISSN 1568-539X
Publisher Brill Academic Publishers
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 140
Pages 1053-1089
DOI https://doi.org/10.1163/156853903322589641
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1574404